How THE HECK DO I WIN IN COLORADO? Topic

I can't seem to catch a break.
I have prized myself on pitchers with the best control, vR available.
Last year, I didn't prize myself on stamina, so... This year, I signed a bunch of great STA, CTL, VR guys.
And they're getting shelled.

Name (throws)  ST  CT  LH  RH  VE 
Rob Ramirez (R)  66 81 85 93 93
David Mullin (R)  76 85 75 73 91
Roscoe Lehr (R)  70 84 54 77 87
Haywood Pecina (R)  86 77 63 73 47
Ken Sheets (R)  87 76 60 76 36
Mike Minor (L)  97 76 32 25 77
Miguel Montanez (L)  78 80 75 67 16
John Shuck (R)  49 79 63 77 52
Naoto Suh (L)  21 88 79 68 36
Shouta Bang (R)  27 93 63 73 31
Ignacio Valentin (R)  21 65 54 63 88
Pedro Vincente (R)  8 86 55 76 41
Joe Wells (R)  52 81 65 83 70
Greg Bellhorn (R)  19 78 60 83 71

This is my staff.

What gives? Should I go after groundball guys? too?
Should I set up my bullpen differently than other teams?
Need some help here.


10/19/2013 2:38 AM
Find somebody that can play some defense, especially SS, CF and 2B.
10/19/2013 9:12 AM
Defense is park-effects neutral.  Though one can argue that in a hitters park like Colorado, it has somewhat more importance than in a neutral or pitchers park as getting defensive outs has more value in a hitter's park.

Your team is last in the world in defense.

Mike Minor should not be on a major league roster.  Even if you're only using him for mop-up duty, you should be able to easily find somebody better than him to fill that role.

Ignacio Valentin has mediocre splits and mediocre control.  He's not going to succeed in an extreme hitter's park.

You list velocity for your pitchers, but that's a secondary rating.  You should take a look at each pitchers set of pitches, that is more important than velocity.
10/19/2013 9:37 AM
I don't know why people always think that control is the top priority in a HITters park, but that's just a myth. A low OAV is more important in hitters parks, while low BB/9 is more important in pitchers parks like Safeco.
10/19/2013 10:57 AM
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Caveat emptor-- the following opinion is totally theoretical, I've never run a team in an extreme hitters' park.  But control in Colorado is a complex problem as I see it.

Regarding per inning run prevention-- walks don't have park effects, they're the only thing that is about the same home and road for Colorado.  So on that level booger would appear to be right; a staff that allows a greater percentage of its offense against in the form of walks (as opposed to hits and homers) should have a smaller increase in that offense allowed in Colorado than at sea level.

However, in terms of staff management-- in Colorado you will throw about 20% more pitches than you otherwise would, so you have to construct a staff that can handle that.  You can neutralize that with some combination of quality (20% of a lower number is still manageable); stamina (either by emphasizing that rating or carrying 12 or even 13 pitchers); or control (if you spend a very low number of pitches per plate appearance, 20% more PA won't kill you).  Needless to say, if you sacrifice quality for control and/or stamina you won't gain ground on the number of pitches problem.  So a low-control, high-splits pitching staff is a double-edged sword; all those 5-pitch ABs will add up.

I guess if I could run a pitching staff of guys with 90/90/90 in stamina/VsL/VsR in Colorado I would, allowing some 50s and 60s in control.  When you find 8 of those guys available in one world, let me know.  But unless I have 12 position players so good and versatile that I can run 13 pitchers, I think that trading control for splits/pitches among ordinary pitchers is probably neutral at best.



10/19/2013 11:45 AM
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I utilize hitters parks and suspect that vL and vR are overrated. I find that I have great success with pitchers who have high control, high GB/FB, and good pitches as long as the splits are decent. If you get GB pitchers and put a good defensive team behind them you will find success.

Also, velocity seems to have little effect. It helps pitchers rack up SO's.
10/19/2013 9:55 PM
You sign Petyton Manning!
10/19/2013 10:43 PM
Work on the Def. I don't see a true SS or CF on your roster. Drop Minor and add a guy with great Def ratings regardless of hitting ability and put him at SS.
10/20/2013 5:34 AM
Posted by drarcher on 10/19/2013 9:55:00 PM (view original):
I utilize hitters parks and suspect that vL and vR are overrated. I find that I have great success with pitchers who have high control, high GB/FB, and good pitches as long as the splits are decent. If you get GB pitchers and put a good defensive team behind them you will find success.

Also, velocity seems to have little effect. It helps pitchers rack up SO's.
I just won a WS in Colorado with a pitching staff built on solid control (2nd in league in BB/9) and a good ground ball to fly ball ratio (1.26 GB/FB), but I had a top 5 offense and was the one of the best defensive teams in the league (2nd in plus plays and led the league in fielding %). You can afford to sacrifice offense a little more at some positions in a park like Coors. I have two legit sluggers in the middle of the order and a bunch of plus defenders that play up offensively because of the park. I built my piching staff around the bullpen more out of necessity but it does help to have a strong group of SUA arms given the type of games you'll get into at Coors.
10/20/2013 6:04 PM
If power hitting is your team's best strength and elite pitching is your weakness is it better to play in a hitters park to maximize your team's strength or in a pitcher's park to minimize your team's weakness?
10/21/2013 11:18 AM
Wow...
THANK you guys.

Seriously.  I will get it going.
10/21/2013 10:41 PM
Posted by tecwrg on 10/19/2013 11:10:00 AM (view original):
I'll disagree and say that you have that 100% backwards.

Issuing walks in a hitters park is more harmful than in a pitchers park.  You give up a free pass in a hitters park, followed by a home run, that's two runs instead of one.  In a pitchers park, a base on balls is less damaging because it's less likely that he'll be moved around by base hits.
How is hitter #2 going to hit a homerun when his coach instructed him to draw a walk??? "Don't put the ball in play, boys! In Colorado you want to draw walks!"

You are an HBD meathead. I'm a much smarter SLB stat nerd. Post this nonsense in the SLB forum and see how that works out for you.
10/22/2013 6:07 AM
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